


Silent Night

by perhapsaperson



Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [5]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21897514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapsaperson/pseuds/perhapsaperson
Summary: A moment between young Wolfgang and Felix.Holiday Advent challenge day 5, prompt: silent night
Relationships: Felix Brenner/Wolfgang Bogdanow
Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566133
Kudos: 31





	Silent Night

After his father died, Wolfgang started singing again.

It was a sort of private rebellion. His father never liked him singing, called it a waste of time, or unmanly, or useless. Well, now that he was gone, he had no more hold over Wolfgang, would never control his life again. Wolfgang revelled in it, going back to the thing he loved, that his father hated.

He joined a youth choir at a church, because it was the nearest one he could find. Now, just a few short months later, they were performing at a church service on Christmas eve.

Wolfgang had never been particularly religious - another thing his father seemed to care about that he didn’t. Of course, his father’s occupation with religion was transparently a matter of status and expectations, not any sort of spirituality. Still, it was another thing Wolfgang distanced himself from, another connection to the family he didn’t want to be a part of.

He couldn’t help feeling this was different, though. This was nothing like the empty gestures of his father and uncle. This was something all his own, something he’d done on his own terms, of his own volition. Not that he’s suddenly become religious, of course. Still, there was this sense of community here that he’d never felt with his family.

So here he is, Christmas Eve, at church.

As they wait in the lobby, behind the pews, the director lining them up for their entrance, he finds himself feeling lighter than he has in a long time.

The music starts and they walk up the aisle between the benches, the lights dimmed around them.

It’s nothing spectacularly, nothing like those painted churches with the high, arching ceilings that he sees in every Christmas special on TV. It’s a simple thing, small and made of stone, with a low ceiling and worn out benches. The organ part is played on a keyboard connected to a speaker, because the small church doesn’t have one of it’s own. It has the tall, stained glass mosaic windows, as has every church Wolfgang’s been in, but they don’t look so impressive now that it’s dark outside.

They reach their place in the front and turn around, poised to begin their performance. Wolfgang scans the room. Though it’s a small church it’s pretty crowded tonight - in almost every row, people, maybe strangers, sit shoulder to shoulder.

Towards the back of the room, though, the crowd starts to thin, and there in one half-empty row in the very back, he spots Felix.

Felix is generally even more ambivalent to church services than Wolfgang. It was never something his family did and it had never interested him. It was clear even now that he didn’t belong, even from the way he sat, leaning against the wall, legs sprawled across the bench next to him. Despite that, he’s here now, to see Wolfgang. Wolfgang feels a flicker of something at the thought, but pushes it aside.

Until now, Felix seemed bored, occupying himself with flipping through the book of hymns in front of him, quite loudly judging by the irritated looks he’s getting from the people around him. Now, though, he’s looking up at them, at Wolfgang, with his full attention.

He smiles, and Wolfgang smiles back, and the performance begins.

They start with the more complex songs that they’d spent the whole season preparing - a lot of latin, songs about the birth of Christ, songs that used the word hallelujah way too much. Then, as the night winds on, they move on to the more familiar hymns.

As distant as he’d been from religion, he’d always found beauty in music, and he had to admit there was something enrapturing about some of these hymns. As they reach the peak of o holy night, sound resonating through this room in a way it never had in the one they practiced in, he feels a stricken. When he looks up at Felix again, sees the intensity of his gaze, he feels a shiver down his spine.

They close with silent night, the simplest of them all. Still, there’s a beauty to it, a softness - tenderness, maybe, thought that was not a word he’d ever say out loud. Most of the church goers are singing along now, but not Felix. He just watches, his eyes still on Wolfgang, silent and immersed. There’s something in his eyes that Wolfgang can’t put a name to. He feels emotions bubbling up in his chest unbidden; he feels like he’s floating, the way their melody floats through the church.

\- - -

After the service is over, most of the choir stays. They go to meet their families, who’d watched them from the crowd. Wolfgang goes to Felix.

“That was pretty good,” Felix says.

Wolfgang laughs. He’s not sure why. “Thanks”

Felix glances over at the others. “Do you want to stay with them a while?”

“No,” Wolfgang says. “I’m ready to go.” Felix smiles.

It’s quiet outside, a sharp contrast to the friendly chatter that filled the church. The stars hang bright in the cloudless sky, Wolfgang can see his breath in front of him.

The walk along the empty street together, Felix bouncing around an kicking up snow. They could be the only ones in the world, right now. Wolfgang feels a sudden rush of fondness.

“Thanks for coming,” he says.

“Course I came,” Felix says, shoving playfully at his shoulder. “We stick together, yeah?”

He glances sideways at Wolfgang, mischievous smile on his lips. Wolfgang feels himself smiling in return.

The melody is running through his head right now, for some reason. All is calm, all is bright. It’s oddly fitting, now.

Suddenly hit with a fit of sentimentality, Wolfgang feels himself stop. He needs a moment, just a moment to take it all in, to appreciate the beauty. He’s not sure why, but he needs to remember this. He stares up at the sky; the stars, the moon, shining brightly on this idyllic night.

“Wolfie?”

He turns at the sound of his name, and inhales sharply.

Felix has stopped to wait for him, right under one of the streetlights, and lit up by it’s glow like that, he looks - beautiful. More than that, even - almost etherial.

Wolfgang feels his stomach drop. Slowly, he feels the world shifting around them, spinning just a little under his feet. Something is different.

“Wolfie?” Felix repeats when he doesn’t respond. “you alright?”

“Yeah,” he says, smiling faintly. “I’m okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love them okay


End file.
